By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil prices on Wednesday added to the solid gains recorded in the previous session, as the dollar fell further and Asian stocks rallied to cheer strong U.S. and European data.
The February futures contract CL2G +0.72% for benchmark U.S. light, sweet crude oil rose 68 cents, or 0.7%, to $97.92 a barrel on Globex during the Asian trading day.
The rise came on top of a 3.4% jump for crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday. January crude futures had jumped 3.6% before they expired at the end of the regular Nymex session overnight.
The advance also followed data showing U.S. housing starts climbed 9.3% in November to a seasonally adjusted 685,000 — the highest annual rate since April 2010.
Data released in Europe showed the Ifo Institute’s German business-climate index for December rose to 107.2 from 106.6 in the preceding month. Furthermore, strong demand during an auction of Spanish bonds also helped to ease jitters about the European debt crisis.
Asian stock markets staged a strong regionwide rebound on Wednesday on the positive news flow and hefty overnight gains on Wall Street. Read Asian Markets.
The U.S. dollar, which retreated against the euro EURUSD +0.25% in North American trading, extended its depreciation during Asian hours in a signal investors were more open to risk-taking.
The greenback’s DXY -0.16% fall helped boost commodities priced in the currency, including crude oil.
Other energy products also climbed, with the February futures contracts for gasoline RB2G +0.37% and heating oil HO2G +0.60% gaining 0.5% to $2.60 a gallon and 0.7% to $2.88 a gallon, respectively.
January natural-gas futures NG12F +0.06% added 0.3% to $3.14 per million British thermal units.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
